Thursday, April 26, 2012

Americans are working harder to get their finances back on track, but many still expect to retire later than they planned, a new survey from Bank of America Corp. found.

The latest Merrill Edge Report, a semi-annual study of consumers with $50,000 to $250,000 in investable assets, found 57 percent expect to retire later than they planned a year ago. That's up from 47 percent in November, when the bank conducted its last survey.

Balancing short- and long-term financial needs continues to be one of the greatest challenges for those "mass affluent" customers, the study found. About a third of respondents acknowledged tapping into their long-term savings to meet short-term needs, more than in the last report.

Yet long-term issues pose the greatest concern: Consumers said they were most worried about the rising cost of health care, followed by saving enough to last through retirement and being about to afford the lifestyle they want during retirement.

"It's no surprise that we see this group delaying retirement and pushing it back further and further," Dean Athanasia, preferred and small business executive at Bank of America, said during a conference call today.

Workers are changing their habits as a result of their concerns, cutting back on entertainment and personal luxuries, trimming everyday expenses and keeping their cars longer than planned, the report found. But those measures are offset, in part, by other expenses: More than half of respondents said they paid or expect to pay more to send their children to college than anticipated, for instance.

Merrill Edge offers investment guidance and investing platforms for small businesses and mass affluent customers. The bank uses data from its Merrill Edge reports to help shape products and services and better understand customers' financial needs.

"Clients are not worried about returns; they are worried about how to reach their goals," Merrill Edge executive Alok Prasad said. "Investment returns are a mechanism to close the gap."